It's all uphill from here!

The feeling you get after a really good lesson is euphoric. It's kind of like riding a cloud. You and the horse are completely connected, giving to each other, communicating and growing together, which makes for such a smooth ride, you almost feel like you and your horse are one being. 

Riding gives you wings. 
I was back to riding Ms. Ruby this past week; Wednesday with Megan featured only Casey, Cali and myself in the lesson. We worked extensively on serpentines. First 3 loops in the arena and then 4. The main benefit from doing serpentines, and the whole reason to do them in training, is to get the horse bending correctly in each direction, and then to fluidly and easily switch the bend in just a couple strides. Basically, it limbers the horse up, and in dressage, we are always striving for a supple horse. Rigidness is not an option. Nor is it very comfortable, for horse or rider! Ruby started out on Wednesday in her general obstinate mood..unwilling to flex in either direction, but noticeably stiffer to the left. Surprise, surprise! She warmed up quickly though, and began to loosen up as we worked the 3-loop at the trot. Then Megan instructed us to canter each time we bent right..transitioning to trot as we changed the bend to the left through the centerline. It was a fun exercise; not so easy with 3 horses of completely different sizes all in a row..and it ended up with many added circles thrown in and breaks to the trot so we didn't cause a pile up. Most of the time it was me having to deviate from the conga line, as I was on the biggest (relatively speaking) horse. Anyway, we then added a 4th loop and then switched directions so we could canter in every  leftward bend. 
The biggest thing I noticed was that after the first few canter departs Ruby really got into it, and became very round and supple. We achieved really great bend in each direction; something that has been more difficult in the past. She eventually began anticipating the canter so I had to throw in some different maneuvers to keep her guessing. The best part was that every upward transition was very uphill and thus immensely comfortable. I was very happy with Wednesday's ride.

Yesterday's ride was even better! But I'll let you hear about that tomorrow. Happy trails!